Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-09-26
The WOMEN OF FRANCE.
Husbands Made to Toe tho IF ark, and Chill
dren Kept in SubjugetlOn.
PhIgdelnbia Press


dren Kept in 5ubjugetion.
Philadelphia Press.
In the French household the woman is
queen. Her empire over her children is
perfect, and she leads her husband by
the nose. lie does not complain OF this;
on the contrary, he enjoys it, end he
thinks tdat, after all, much worse might
happen to him. The wife knows all her
husbands affairs, and when he has q few
savings to invest ne does not think it be-
meath him to ask her advice. She knows
as well ss he the current price OF stock ct
the bOurse, end if he should be seized
with g pruriency to embark in specula-
ton she brings to bear all her influence
over him to induce him to buy conseIs or
any other government securities. Call
on her husband on business, and if he is
from home you will not need to make {
second visit on that account. She has
all the sHSirs of the firm at her fingers'
cad. .KSery housekeepar Keeps memo
rsrfun book in which she writes down
all her expenses.
The French woman has a genius for
cookery and is thoroughly awake to the
fact that it is good policy in married life
to see that her husband dimes we'll. The
politics of mstrimoEy is science inborn
in our women. Let French woman be
rich or poor-the mistress of mansion in
the Champs Elysees or OF poor fifth
floor little fiat at Montmartre or Batig-
nolles-she has always the charm CT
feminlnity. She is always smart, always
alert, and has little futtesing, busting
way with her that is bound to keep
~ 10 inf in, II ch % DOCS Che
may be sometimes q little affected, but
she is never vulgar. Sundays and holi-
! DAYS she dresses still little more ele
gantly than usual, but she never appears
| to be in Sunday clothes, The middle class
French woman is lzdylike, not only in
| her dress, but in her speech. You will
never see her loaded with cheap ieWelry
this great stamp OF vulgaritY, and Wher
she speaks to you you cannot guess
whether she is the wife Of gentleman OF
of q small tradesman.
l have often heard French womer
called frivolous. But this is the heigh
Of absurdity. If frivol!ty consists II try
ing to remain young and attractive 3:
long as possible, then the French
bourgeois is frivolous. II, again, friyol-
ity consists in making g home Cheerful
hUQ ShIJ duu preventing lu5OhlU LlOlI
being absorbed by the cares OF business
then she IS frivolous. II this woman
were frivolous how could you explain tn
alteration for the mother which, even t
the lowest of the low, you find in FrenCl
children? How could this be unless sh
were the example of all domestic virtue
If s Frenchman Of forty woult
hesitate TO take an important ste
in life without first consulting hi
mother, surely it must be that he recog
nizes in her a wise guide. 1t would b
10 more naivete On my part to dwel
longer on the absurd charge of frivolity
Take now the shopkeeping classes. Their
you will see the wife the sctiy
partner Of her husband. Behold theI
both. as the commercial Traveller display
his goods on the counter. She is not
Elnere housekeeper, with or without wage
I she is partner, not merely sleepin
partner. This enables her, il she hal
pens to become widow. to carry on bu
mess without her husband, to be lnde
pendent, and to bring up her children
She has not to obtain her living on he
;, husbands death, to become workir
housekeeper or nurse; she is the miE
tress Of her own house, IS before, al
now the head OF the firm.
- You cannot obtain perfect notion {
French industry unless you pay q visit I
b our peasantry. I must say that now tn
woman ceases to be attractive. She doe